I have just come into possession of a relatively new Geek Out 720 with the 1.5 firmware. I will be using it with Apple computers exclusively. I have read many pages of this thread and the Geek 1000 Impression thread - and it has been tough wading through the pages of posts about trouble tickets, noise floor issues, volume spikes, hate toward the 3D Awsomaccallit and other fully justifiable rants - but it has been a bit tough finding bits of information that confirm/refute what I am finding in the first 24 hours of playing with my little dongle (sorry)
So I am going to ask a few questions and make a few assumptions and hopefully get some responses - thanks in advance guys (and gals) - I have found that I like the sound coming through my headphones - a lot - my Shure SE846 likes to be driven with this thing - I haven't gone through all my headphones - but there is a queue forming on my desk.
**I also bought the "GeekPerfect" music player for the hell of it, but have reverted back to iTunes so I could play with the EQ a bit - I don't see any EQ or tone controls with this player.
The buttons on the side do nothing now other than switch between two different digital filters (T/F?)
Since I have a Mac, I have gone into "Audio MIDI Setup" and maxed out the volume there.
I have maxed out the volume on iTunes and only adjust the volume with the up/down/mute buttons on my keyboard (I tried it another way - maxing out the volume on the MIDI control and the keyboard buttons and adjusted volume on iTunes - it seems to sound better that way, but I could be wrong - there seems to me more room to adjust volume from quiet to loud on the computer volume controls as opposed to iTunes volume controls - with iTunes volume, it gets really loud before you are 20% off -0db.
If I want to see if my unit is one with an abnormal noise floor, would it be obvious by simply pausing my music - some of what I listen to was recorded in the 60's and 70's so they come with a level of hiss as standard equipment - when I have noticed hiss, I have paused the music and moved the volume up and down - and it has been quiet - so I think I have a good one.
...oh, hell - what else do I need to know?
I bought this because I wanted a powerful amp & DAC with a low output impedance that would allow my many low impedance IEMs and CIEMs to reproduce all frequencies without any odd roll offs (talking to you 846 & Merlin) and I really like the Sabre DAC chip - I have to tell you that my 8A's sound freakin awesome with this little person - all of the best attributes of that CIEM are there but sound punched up and clearer - really pleased with the sound....
Whew... yeah, so I like this thing - I like the sound - I just need to play around with it a bit more...